Slovenia!!

I am so happy that a guy I met in Prague told me to go to Slovenia! My time there was short but wonderful! I took the train to Ljubljana (which sounds like Lubliana and I love the way it sounds!) then I took a bus to Bled. My hostel was right on Lake Bled! Right when I got to Bled I was walking by the lake to my hostel and the sky looked incredible! I couldn't believe my luck! I've seen pictures of Lake Bled that were amazing and I felt like I had a chance to take an amazing picture as well! While I was taking pictures these people asked me to take their picture, then they asked me to join them! There were two girls from Holland and two guys from Canada. I hung out with them the rest of the night and it was a ton of fun! I love when I go to new places and meet people who instantly want to hang out! It always turns out to be so much fun.

Thursday was my one full day at the lake and it was also great! It took me 10 hours to make it all the way around the lake because of all my stops! Every few steps I wanted to take another picture, I had to have come out with at least one good picture (I only stopped about a hundred times!). The lake area is just so gorgeous it is hard to not constantly take pictures! You have the lake and the little island in the middle with a church on it, then you have the castle towering over the lake and a nice little church down below the castle, plus the mountains surrounding every side! My walk led me up to a lookout spot that gave a great view of the little island and church. I did some painting while I was there! Then I was really hot so I decided to go for a swim. People were swimming everywhere along the edge of the lake so I just picked a spot and jumped in! The two Canadian guys from the day before told me they swam to the island and I was tempted to but I didn't want to leave my stuff on the shore all alone. I don't know what I would do if I lost Eliza (my camera, affectionately called Eliza the adventurer). I just swam around the area to relax. The water was so clear and bright blue and cool! I felt so much better afterwards. I took a little boat over to the island with the church on it and explored for a little bit. Once back on the mainland I kept making my way around the lake and the next stop was the castle. The journey to the castle about killed me. It was like walking up the stairs to the 50th floor of a building but the view was great! I wandered around the castle and found their honey bee room. There were tons of honey products that you could taste. I sampled some jam that was made with honey and no other sugar. It blew my mind! I weighed a jar in my hand and decided that even though it was a bit heavy it was totally worth it so I bought it! Then I had a delicious slice of Bled cream cake! Back at the bottom of the castle I sat on the grass near some live music and took pictures of the castle at night. A storm was rolling in so there was lightening in the air and I got a picture of the castle with a lightening strike behind it!! I was so proud of myself!!

Right now I'm making my way to Croatia for my week long adventure tour in the Plitvice Lakes National Park. We will be hiking, biking, and kayaking! Stay tuned for Croatia updates!